fiercebunny: (Keaton reading)
fiercebunny ([personal profile] fiercebunny) wrote2011-02-24 05:15 am

It's not really an addiction unless it actually poses some kind of problem (that I deem worthwhile).

I have been reading a bunch of books lately. Since I had some Amazon gift cards from the holidays, I decided to get a Kindle. I had been kind of resisting ereaders since they came out, but there were a few things that changed my mind:

*I saw [livejournal.com profile] brennye's in person and it looked cool.
*There are still lots of books that aren't available electronically, so there would no reason not to continue to waste copious amounts of time in bookstores. (Very important.)
*I noticed that books are covering most horizontal surfaces in my house as bookshelf space ran out a long time ago, and are now growing in ungainly stacks toward the ceiling. (Slightly less important than the previous point.)

So anyway, I bought one (the slightly cheaper wifi only one) and a pretty green leather cover to carry it around in. And I really like it, it's very lightweight, the screen really does look quite like print. It's not bright enough to cause eyestrain. And most importantly, IT'S LIKE HAVING A CONSTANT MORPHINE DRIP OF BOOKS. ALL THE DAMN TIME. Seriously, you just push a few buttons and within mere seconds, instant book. Aaaaahhhhh.

So, here's what I've read recently:

A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane.
The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson.
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love being Hated by Alison Arngrim
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

And then I wanted to reread The Hobbit, which I had in paperback (somewhere) and after a bit of digging around, actually managed to locate.

and then after that,
Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

In my defense, there was a lot of snow and crap weather this month so I was indoors a good deal of the time. But no! It doesn't end there. At some point, I started to feel guilty for some strange reason (contributing to the decline of civilization!) and I bought two physical copies of In the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders and Victorian London by Liza Picard. I wanted some history books on the Victorian era and I like to flip around a lot when reading non-fiction. The chapter in the latter book on Smells is really not good reading whilst on one's lunch break, by the way.

Also, as you may have heard this week, Borders bookstores have declared bankruptcy and are shutting down many of their stores nationwide. (Kindle readers are why we can't have nice things.) Here, they're closing the OKC store on NW Expressway, while keeping the Norman store open, which kind of makes sense. It's on a really busy street, but there are three other bookstores within a few miles radius. I've heard some bad things about Borders management online, but I'm sorry to see them go, I've shopped there for many years.

But since I was in the neighborhood on Tuesday night, I decided to stop by and see if they had any sales and they did. The store was probably the most crowded I'd seen in a long time, but the cafe was already closed down and tables and chairs were pushed away against the wall. It was kind of sad.

I still bought a bunch of books though.

Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, a cookbook that I'd had my eye on for awhile.
Embroidery Companion by Alicia Paulson.
Royal Escape and Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer.
And The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm by Juliet Nicolson.

Okay, yeah, maybe it's a problem. Shut up. I can stop any time I want, I just don't want to.

[identity profile] celticgeekess.livejournal.com 2011-02-25 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
I don't see any problem here. I think you and the kindle were made for each other!

[identity profile] night-owl-9.livejournal.com 2011-02-25 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
I have yet to get a Kindle, but I can see how it can be convenient :)

I love books, and it is so good to see someone who loves them as much as I do :)

[identity profile] caerbannog.livejournal.com 2011-02-26 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
The nice thing about it is that you can dl free sample chapters on the ebooks, which really comes in handy. And you don't have to have the Kindle for those, there are free reading apps for phones and pcs. Much easier than trying to navigate their Look Inside feature.

[identity profile] library-of-sex.livejournal.com 2011-02-25 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
I love seeing people go on and on about books. It doesn't happen enough! So glad you got a ton of reading done and got to purchase some new books.

What did you think of Lehane? The entire Kenzie-Gennaro series is awesome, so I hope you'll read the rest!

[identity profile] caerbannog.livejournal.com 2011-02-26 09:56 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I'd read Shutter Island last year and I really liked that, so I was interested in reading some of the Kenzie-Gennaro series. It didn't disappoint. (Though I have to say that some of the racial issue stuff was iffy? Uncomfortable-making? I can't really put my finger on it.) Generally, I really did like it and I think Patrick's a really good narrator. I'm probably going to read more of the series. And rent Gone Baby Gone at some point.